Summary

This summary provides information about the money spent on adult social care by the social services departments of Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs) in England. It contains information taken from CASSR administrative systems used to record personal social services expenditure and income. The data are used by central government for public accountability, policy monitoring and national accounts, and by local authorities to assess their performance in relation to their peers.

This report combines data from 152 CASSRs provided via the Personal Social Services: Expenditure and Unit Costs return (PSS-EX1) and relates to the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013. Information within this report is based on the final data for 2012-13 and supersedes that contained within the provisional report published in September 2013.

Gross current expenditure has been quoted within this summary unless otherwise stated. National-level information is provided by client type and service area in this summary. Trends are generally shown over a five-year period where broadly comparable and a ten-year comparison is made in relation to gross current expenditure. Data on grants and unit costs are broadly comparable over a three-year period only.

Due to changes in the composition of social care funding and expenditure over time, caution should be exercised when considering long-term trends. For further information see Appendix B. In order to account for some of these changes, information about expenditure on adult social care between 2007-08 and 2012-13, from sources including CASSRs and the NHS, is provided in Appendix C.

Data at a regional and CASSR level are available via the National Adult Social Care Intelligence Service (NASCIS). NASCIS provides a set of analytical, querying and reporting tools.

Key facts

Gross current expenditure by CASSRs on adult social care in England in 2012-13 was £17.2 billion. This is almost unchanged (a decrease of less than half of one per cent) in cash terms from the £17.2 billion spent in 2011-12, but represents two per cent decrease in real terms. Over the five-year period from 2007-08, when the figure was £15.3 billion, expenditure increased by 12 per cent in cash terms (a decrease of a half of one per cent in real terms). Over the ten-year period from 2002-03, when the figure was £11.3 billion, expenditure increased by 52 per cent in cash terms (19 per cent in real terms).

52 per cent (£8.9 billion) of expenditure in 2012-13 was on older people (those aged 65 and over). Expenditure on people aged 18-64 with learning disabilities accounted for 30 per cent (£5.2 billion) of gross current expenditure; people aged 18-64 with physical disabilities for nine per cent (£1.6 billion), and people aged 18-64 with mental health needs for seven per cent (£1.1 billion). Other adult services accounted for two per cent (£310 million) and less than one per cent was spent on asylum seekers (£10 million) and service strategy (£50 million) combined. These proportions are unchanged from 2011-12.

The proportion of adult expenditure on residential care decreased over the five-year period 2007-08 to 2012-13 from 46 per cent to 44 per cent (£7.5 billion). Over the same period, expenditure on day and domiciliary care increased from 42 per cent to 45 per cent (£7.7 billion) of all spending. The remaining 11 per cent (£2.0 billion) of expenditure was spent on assessment and care management in 2012-13. The proportions for 2012-13 are unchanged from 2011-12.

Expenditure on direct payments for adults was £1.2 billion in 2012-13 compared to £1.1 billion in 2011-12; an increase of around 14 per cent in cash terms (12 per cent in real terms). Over the five-year period from 2007-08, when the figure was £450 million, expenditure on direct payments increased by 176 per cent in cash terms (144 per cent in real terms).The percentage of expenditure used for direct payments for adults continued to increase and equated to seven per cent of gross current expenditure in 2012-13 compared to six per cent in 2011-12 and just under three per cent in 2007-08.

Grants for adults aged 18 and over (excluding carers and service strategy) amounted to £290 million in 2012-13; a decrease of three per cent in real terms (one per cent in cash terms) from £300 million (real terms) in 2011-12, and a decrease of nine per cent in real terms (five per cent in cash terms) from £320 million (real terms) in 2010-11. Grants as a proportion of ‘provision by others’ remained unchanged at two per cent over this period.

The average cost per adult aged 18 and over supported in residential care, nursing care or intensively in their own home was £602 per week in 2012-13; a decrease of three per cent in real terms (one per cent in cash terms) from £619 (real terms) in 2011-12, and seven per cent in real terms (three per cent in cash terms) from £649 (real terms) in 2010-11.